Liu Yinyan’s whole life could only be described as legendary. However, everyone only saw his success, no one knew what he had done for that success. Someone said that all capitalists are dirty. Then how heavy was the dirt on Liu Yinyan who managed to turn his life from an unknown person to the lynchpin of the business world in just a few decades? Had Liu Yinyan done anything shady in his past? If he didn't, why would the kidnappers bring that up? And what was their purpose? Revenge? Expose?
Liu Yinyan answered with plain impatience, “We mainly focus on venture capital investment, basically we’ll invest in any companies that we believe have a future, in return, they will provide us with their company share, so in reality, Rong Ding Corporation’s business venture is so wide that I’ll never be able to list it out. For example, real estate, interweb, manga, movies…” I nodded. As a man who was worth several billions, that was understandable. Logically speaking, Liu Yinyan must have known what the kidnappers were referring to but we couldn’t help it if he didn’t want to talk about that.
“Elder Liu.” I couldn’t help myself from saying, “There’s a reason why the kidnappers said the things they did. 1, they are trying to muddle our focus; 2, they are trying to take revenge on you. Perhaps you can try to think about the second possibility. If something does come up, you can tell Xiao Liu and he’ll relay the info to us.” Then I turned to Xiao Liu and whispered to him, “Xiao Liu, before Gu Chen left, he told me to tell you that he was sorry. He was in the heat of the moment, he didn’t mean to offend you. Also can you give me the car key? I need to go somewhere else.”
Xiao Liu sighed as he tossed me the key. “It’s no problem. You guys are still young. Anger is not going to solve the problem, it’ll only make it worse. Finding Liu Fei’er is our main objective. It’s alright, I know the kind of person Gu Chen is, I won’t take offence. By the way, I still need to stay here, if you’re free, mind buying a lottery ticket for me?” I nodded. Xiao Liu was an agreeable person, he rarely got into arguments with people but his luck was definitely bad. He had been buying lottery tickets for 3 to 4 years already but he had not won a single penny.
“Elder Liu, we’ll be leaving then.” I told Liu Yinyan from afar. “If the kidnappers do call back, please listen to Captain Zhao’s advice.” Then I left with Guan Zhenglin. Walking towards the car, Guan Zhenglin asked me, “Where are we going?”
I smiled. “We’re going to investigate the 4 suspects on the white board, starting the most easily-accessible.”
“Who is that?” Guan Zhenglin asked.
I answered, “Huo Yao, she’s the easiest to find and we don’t need to book any appointment to see her.” After a pause I added, “From what we know so far, the kidnappers are not doing this for money so it’s entirely possible that they have been hired by another party to do this. If that’s the case, Huo Yao has both means and motive to do that.”
“How much do you think a life is worth?” Guan Zhenglin looked at me. “After all, we already have two deaths on our hands.”
I sighed, “In China, a human life is practically worthless. In a recent case about a fatal domestic violence, the husband only sat for 6 years of prison and had to pay 40000 RMB to his dead wife’s parents. For hit and run cases, most drivers would end up running over the victims even though they were clearly still alive, because paying for one’s death was much cheaper than paying for one’s convalescence fee. So it doesn’t really cost much to order a hit on someone.” I started the car and told Guan Zhenglin, “We better inform their university dean, tell them to find Hou Yao because we have a lot of questions for her.”
We came to Dong Xing University, one of the best universities in Dong Xing City. We parked the car at the underground parking lot. When we climbed up the stairs, we appeared in front of a basketball court. Many young adults were playing, this was a place filled with youth and life. I sighed, “The biggest regret of my life is not attending university, I never knew what university life is like.”
“Shame.” She said even though Guan Zhenglin didn’t sound like she meant it at all. Only then I realized the 19 years old Guan Zhenglin was in her second year of university. After spending so much time with her, I had forgotten about that. Walking through the meandering wooded path, we encountered quite a few numbers of young couples. In fact, walking side by side, Guan Zhenglin and I could be mistaken as a pair easily. We were about the same age as these university students but our lives couldn’t have been more different. “Sometimes, I consider just graduating after university, find a normal job, settle down, and start a family, it’ll be a stable life.” Guan Zhenglin said as she turned to study the yellowing leaves around us. “But perhaps this exciting life is more for me. Victims, cases, killers, how many people will have a life as exciting as that?”
Guan Zhenglin’s words echoed what I was thinking, some people could live without excitement, perhaps, that was the similarity between the police and the criminals that they didn’t even realize.
It was the head of the Business Management Department that came to welcome us. The police were coming to investigate their students, this was something huge. The head had the surname Wang. He had a potbelly, and a strange hairstyle. He had male-pattern baldness but the hair that he did have was extremely long. He wound them around his head like a turban but if he put them down, they would reach his waist. “Ha ha.” Seeing my attention on his hair, Department Head Wang chuckled, “I was once like you, a head full of hair but this is what I have left now.”
“Is Miss Huo Yao here with us?” After a polite smile, I asked.
Department Head Wang shook his head and shrugged, “This Miss Hou, how shall I put this, is quite a trickster. Even though she has class now, she is free to go whenever she pleases. However, even though she often skips classes, she has never failed a subject and her result is always good. But I’ve already called her father so we would be able to find her soon.” Department Head Wang invited us into the staff lounge to sit. While I was there, I was reminded of something so I asked, “Do you know of a student named Zhang Yunhu? If he’s around, do you mind getting him here?”
“Zhang Yunhu, is it? Okay, I’ll go ask.” The man left. Moments later, he came with the document that had Hou You’s classmate’s information. He handed it to me and told me that Zhang Yunfu would be here soon. I looked through the document and saw Liu Fei’er, Hou Yao and Zhang Yunhu’s names all on it. The document also included their parent’s phone number and their family background. Zhang Yunfu came from a rich family too but not as rich as Hou Yao and Liu Fei’er. After taking a look I smiled, “I am quite shocked to see the names on here. There are quite a number of rich second generation here. About 1/3 of the students in this class come from a good and respectable background. At least they don’t need to worry about anything in their lives.”
Guan Zhenglin shrugged, “Those with money will naturally get access to more resources. But those who got in with pure effort are the real respectable ones.”
While we spoke, the door was pushed open. We lifted our heads to see a very handsome young man. He was 1.8 metres tall, and had a trim body. He was muscular but not overly so. He was casually-dressed but everything was branded. His hair was combed to the back, giving him a clean look. He looked like a model. But then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. Liu Fei’er and Hou Yao wouldn’t have fallen for someone less presentable. When Zhang Yunhu saw us, he was clearly surprised. He was expecting someone older, not 2 people about his age.
“These two are officers from the city station.” Department Head Wang said, “They have some questions for you, just answer them honestly.”
“Please take a seat.” I gestured at Zhang Yunfu. “Do you know why we’ve summoned you?”
Zhang Yunfu sat and Department Head Wang sat across from us. Moments later, the young man answered, “You’re here for Liu Fei’er, aren’t you?”
“You’re very clever.” I commented.
Zhang Yunfu shook his head. “The news is all over the media, they all suggested that Fei’er has been kidnapped. I’m her boyfriend, if I didn't even know that, I wouldn’t be able to get into Dong Xing University.”
“In that case…” I continued, “On the day of Liu Fei’er’s disappearance, did any of your classmate act strangely? Like say, Hou Yao?” When he heard the name, Zhang Yunfu was silent for a moment before responding, “Hou Yao is my coursemate, she will not do something like this.”
“But hasn’t Hou Yao said that she would make Liu Fei’er disappear forever?” I asked.
“She did.” Zhang Yunfu glanced at us and then at Department Head Wang. He confessed. “I’ll be honest, before I got into a relationship with Liu Fei’er, Hou Yao was my girlfriend. It happened during the second semester of the first year. One time, a group of us went out for dinner. We all had quite a bit to drink that night. I ended up in a hotel room with Hou Yao… I wasn’t proud of what I did that night.” Zhang Yunfu grimaced with regret. “As a man, I took full responsibility. We became an official couple but one day, out of boredom, I looked through her phone. I saw her past messages and then I realized a friend of hers had dropped an aphrodisiac in my beer that night. The whole thing was Hou Yao’s plan. After I knew the truth, I immediately stayed away from her.” Zhang Yunhu explained, “I broke up with her but I didn’t tell her the real reason why, because I wanted to save her face. Furthermore, I already had a crush on Liu Fei’er, if not for Hou Yao, I would have confessed my love to Liu Fei’er a long time ago. One month after the break-up, I finally summoned my courage to make the confession and Liu Fei’er accepted me. When the news spread, it incensed Hou Yao. She got into her mind that it was Liu Fei’er who stole me away from her.”
I wasn’t not expecting drama from these kids but I listened quietly.
“One time, the 3 of us ran into each other. Before the crowd, Hou Yao swore she would make Liu Fei’er disappear forever.” Zhang Yunfu frowned with despair.
1 comment:
This Hou Yao lady, sigh.
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